How do local governments respond to central mandate in affordable housing policy? A qualitative comparative analysis of forty-one Chinese cities

Countries in developed and developing worlds have faced growing challenges to solve affordable housing shortages for lower-income households, prompting the adoption of various types of mandates to compel local implementation of affordable housing policy. A large volume of literature has focused on whether and how such top-down mandate indeed improves local supply of affordable housing. Insufficient understanding has been provided regarding the multi-faceted nature of local strategic responses to a top-down housing mandate. This research addresses this intellectual gap with an empirical study of local strategic behavior in response to the affordable housing mandate that was announced by the central government during the Twelfth Five-Year Plan (2011–2015). Through systematic content analysis of local news reports on affordable housing from 41 Chinese cities from various provinces, we describe the multiple-dimensional characteristics of local policy actions as cities were compelled to complied with the mandate. We further employ a fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis method to investigate how top-down political pressure combines with local policy interpretation, resource mobilization capacity, and local public pressure lead to more diverse policy actions in affordable housing. This research enriches the understanding of how city governments respond to top-down housing mandate, as well as offers valuable policy implications for affordable housing policy.